United Nations Somalia ( UNODSOM II )

United Nations Operation in Somalia II (UNOSOM II) was the second phase of the United Nations intervention in Somalia, from March 1993 until March 1995, after the country had become involved in civil war in 1991.

UNOSOM II carried on from the United States-controlled (UN-sanctioned) Unified Task Force (UNITAF). It had been active for a transition period when United Nations Operation in Somalia I (UNOSOM I) mission proved to be ineffectual. All three of these interventions were intended to establish a secure enough environment for humanitarian operations to be carried out, because there was effectively no central government and the country was increasingly subject to factional violence and was suffering from famine, in part due to the warfare and social disruption.

The UNOSOM II intervention was associated with the Battle of Mogadishu and related events in which eighteen American soldiers were killed. These events were later served as the basis for Mark Bowden's book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War in 1999.

Design

The medal is a circular medal of bronze alloy. The obverse depicts the ‘World-in-a Wreath’ emblem of the UN and the reverse has the inscription: ‘FOR SERVICE IN DEFENCE OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CHARTER OF THE UNITED NATIONS’.